Koppal district Girl who protested for toilet in home gets praised by Modi

HUBBALLI: Danapur village in Koppal district broke out in celebrations on Sunday, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it a point to appreciate Mallamma Sannaningamma Bagalapur in the course of his Mann ki Baat programme. The class 10 student had protested for a toilet in her home in July.

Elaborating on the awareness about construction of toilets, Modi mentioned the efforts of Mallamma and gram panchayat president Shafi Shakeshawali and congratulated them. Shakeshawali said he was thrilled to hear his and Mallamma’s names in the PM’s public speech. “This credit should be shared with TOI, as it published the news on July 16 and August 2. This was a great encouragement for us and I feel the reports created waves in the nation,” he pointed out.

Mallamma said she had never expected such recognition from Modi. “I have no words to express my feelings over the PM’s comment. However, I was sensitized about the importance of toilets by campaigns in school and the village,” she said. “Our teachers would emphasize the need for toilets. Their words like `Toilet is our right’ and `Toilet is a symbol of self-esteem’ motivated me to demand a toilet. However, my mother would cite the reasons of poverty . Though I told my family about the government’s subsidy of Rs 15,000 for dalit families, she always said toilets were for rich persons. Then I decided to sacrifice food till my mother agreed to construct a toilet.”

Koppal ZP CEO R Ramachandran, who made arrangements to fulfil her demand, said Modi’s recognition had energized the administration to work harder.